1. Cross-strait tensions are on the rise again lately — given the increasing Chinese and U.S. naval presence in the region — so as usual, the discussion around #Taiwan is framed in military terms. “Will there be war?” seems to be the most common question everyone asks.
2. It’s a real concern, but this tendency to see the island as no more than a geopolitical bargaining chip rather than a vibrant democracy of 23.5 million people is dangerous and insulting. That’s also why I often find it dreadful to engage with strategically-minded “realists.”
3. The entire I.R. discipline is founded on the assumption that, if you look at a map of the world, all you see are nation-states with competing “interests,” not the lived experience of actual human beings. So you make casual suggestions like, “Let’s abandon X in exchange for Y!”
4. I wrote this essay in 2018 arguing that Taiwan is important — not because it exists for foreign-policy hawks on the right to check China’s expansionism, but because it’s the most progressive country in Asia that deserves international representation. dissentmagazine.org/article/island…
5. Quite a few things have changed since then, obviously, as has my assessment on certain issues, but I think the main thesis still stands: Taiwan can’t only be associated with phrases like “arms sales” or, at all, with “reunification” and “renegade province.”
6. I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again: The guy who best understands this in Washington is probably Markey. He knows what the Taiwanese, if given a voice on the global stage, can offer on such critical matters as public health.
7. Now he’s set to chair the Senate Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific. I was proud to support him in a tough Massachusetts primary last summer, and I’m confident that he’ll continue to help build a new, post-Kissingerian U.S.-Taiwan relationship.
8. Finally, my favorite outsider’s look at Taiwan I’ve read all week is from @Noahpinion, who introduces its Covid-19 response in addition to its unique identity, liberal values, urbanism, nightlife, high technology, and even solarpunk architecture! noahpinion.substack.com/p/taiwan-is-a-…

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More from @jeffreychngo

5 Dec 20
1. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know personally and work with many opposition figures in #HongKong. I can say that one of the bravest, most genuine among them is @tedhuichifung. That he’s now in exile reflects the impossibility for even moderates to survive in the city.
2. His dramatic escape to Copenhagen this week was everything but assured. Thanks to helpful Danish friends — including @ThomasRohden, @Storgaaard, and @uffeelbaek — who invited him to discuss climate change and secured the necessary official documents, the court let him loose.
3. Back in 1999, Ted attended the annual Tiananmen candlelight vigil in Victoria Park and met members of the Democratic Party, which he decided to join. He rose through the ranks upon graduating from law school, winning a seat in 2011 to the Central and Western District Council.
Read 17 tweets
18 Sep 20
1. I’ve been reflecting a lot since the publication of @wilfredchan’s interview with me. His efforts deserve my utmost appreciation as he presents my positions faithfully and gives me an opportunity to reach new readers. Speaking with him never ceases to be stimulating.
2. On that early January morning of 2016 we met, we watched a new film, Ten Years, together in Taikoo Shing. He gave me a tour of his then-C.N.N. office in Quarry Bay. Not even half of that time — Five Years — has elapsed. Alas, Hong Kong already is beyond our recognition.
3. We agree more today than ever before. By U.S. standards, we stand on opposite sides of the debate over whether Washington’s actions regarding Hong Kong are good or bad. Yet by Hong Kong standards, and certainly among right-wing localists, we’re in essence just “leftards.”
Read 25 tweets
14 Sep 20
1. Plenty of people put in plenty of effort to help these #HongKong-related laws — which you may or may not like — materialize. Since you asked, let me answer. Congress first introduced the #HKHRDA amid the Umbrella Movement, when it received zero attention from @BarackObama.
2. Never from 2014 to 2018 had it even moved out of committee in either chamber. Yes, it passed the Senate last fall when no one denied @marcorubio’s request for unanimous consent, but he took a while to defeat closed-door special interests before he could bring it to the floor.
3. @SpeakerPelosi chose another path, insisting on a roll call so whoever dared to oppose it must do so on the record. This was how the 417-1 House landslide happened. Despite these supermajorities, @realDonaldTrump was ambiguous until the last minute.
Read 7 tweets
4 Jul 20
1. This new documentary of @hoccgoomusic — opened in American virtual cinemas on July 1 — charts her entertainment career and political activism, contextualizing her present journey as a world-renowned independent artist boycotted by Beijing and virtually all big-name sponsors.
2. It begins with her formative years in Montréal, return to Hong Kong for a singing competition just before the 1997 handover, early days in the Cantopop industry as a mentee of the legendary Anita Mui, and subsequent local breakthrough.
3. Then it covers her foray into the Chinese market, decision to come out at a historic L.G.B.T. march eight years ago, as well as her participation in the Umbrella Movement and the ongoing anti-government protests.
Read 7 tweets
7 Jun 20
These blatant lies from the far left who depicts #China as a socialist utopia aim to drive a wedge between oppressed peoples fighting, respectively, against U.S. and Chinese police brutality. Don’t fall for it; don’t diminish the pain and struggle of others.
Thankful for comments like this that set the record straight.
Read 5 tweets
2 Jun 20
1. The past week hasn’t been easy. “The fires of frustration and discord,” once again, “are burning in every city, North and South.” As a Hong Konger deeply disturbed by the death of #GeorgeFloyd in #Minnesota, I stand with those who march for #BlackLivesMatter.
2. Systematic racism in the U.S. is real. The present moment has deep historical roots stretching back to before the country’s founding. I can only try my best to empathize with the pain this has inflicted on so many, even as I’ll never fully understand the plight.
3. For those of us watching the events unfold, scenes of confrontation and bloodshed can be traumatic: State violence feels all too familiar ever since the anti-extradition demonstrations broke out around this time last year in #HongKong.
Read 21 tweets

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